White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is being asked about President Joe Biden telling reporters he did not learn about the severity of the baby formula shortage until April.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre said, “We did everything that we can from the moment that we learned about the recall to work 24/7 to make sure that the production went up.”
“That just doesn’t address the question of why it was that the president didn’t know when the manufacturers are saying that they knew as soon as the recalls happened, as soon as the plant was shut down that this would be a very serious problem,” a reporter said.
She asked, “Was there a breakdown in the process here? Did somebody fail to inform him?”
“I have not spoken to the president,” Jean-Pierre responded. “I know that he just said that a few moments ago, so I would have to talk to him about the April date.”
Watch the video below:
KJP: "We did everything that we can from the moment that we learned about the recall…"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 1, 2022
REPORTER: "That just doesn't address the question of why it was that the president didn't know…that this would be a very serious problem."
KJP: "I have not spoken to the president…" pic.twitter.com/gmXQnXQtOB
The question stems from an answer Biden gave to reporters earlier in the day.
“You know, the question you always love to ask me is, on every single thing: Why didn’t you act sooner?” Biden said.
He explained, “I don’t think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of one facility — the Abbott facility. And it was accurately shut down because the formula was questioned, in terms of its purity.”
“And so, once we learned of the extent of it and how broad it was, we kicked everything into gear. And I think we’re on the way to be able to completely solve the problem,” he added.
Reporter: Why didn't you move quicker on the baby formula shortage?
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 1, 2022
Biden: "I don't think anyone anticipated the impact of the shutdown of Abbott facility."
Reporter: "Didn't the CEOs just tell you they understood it would have a very big impact?"
Biden:"They did but I didn't" pic.twitter.com/ei2e1N5mkY
Another reporter asked, “Didn’t those CEOs just tell you that they understood [shutting down the plant] would have a very big impact?”
“They did, but I didn’t,” Biden responded.
When asked if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should “have been more aware of that” when they inspected the plant and shut it down in February, the president said, “The real problem occurred when it got shuttered. So, you’re saying they should have anticipated it would be shuttered.”
“Here’s the deal. I became aware of this problem sometime in…in early April, about how intense it was,” he added.
Starting last year, supply disruptions limited the availability of baby formula. However, the issue intensified after Abbott Nutrition issued a recall for several brands of formula in February. Its plant in Sturgis, Michigan, was also shut down after federal officials investigated four babies who suffered bacterial infections after ingesting formula from that plant.
As the Associated Press notes, “Abbott is one of only a handful of companies that produce the vast majority of the U.S. formula supply, so their recall wiped out a large segment of the market.”
